This is meant to be sort of an overall respect thread for the entire series; it seems like the only ones to get any sort of respect is Cloud (understandable, he has a movie), Sephiroth (again, movie- plus one very badass cutscene) and Vincent (Gets his own game). For canon's sake I will not mention Dissidia or Kingdom Heats except to briefly iterate that SE seems to view their protagonists as mostly equals.

Disclaimer: This is mostly just to get my own thoughts in order, calling it a respect thread is probably the wrong word but it is a listing of information so... (shrug). Sections will be bolded and in caps, specific abilities will be italicized, and game titles will be underlined.

01 MAGICRather than list every spell in the series, I will instead stick with the big ones that have some plot significance.Quake: In the earliest games this spell would allow the players to swallow the enemy into the earth. This is hard to really quantify as the creatures were not drawn to scale- the largest creature that we know the size of would be a T-Rex.In later titles the auto-KO part was removed in favor of simply dealing earth-type damage; a sense of realism was imported as it would not harm flying creatures. However, a description of the spell in Tactics reads, "Magic causes a huge earthquake almost toppling heaven and hell."—Description"Assailants in the ground, it's time to rumble! Quake!"—Upon castingObviously hyperbole, but it does impart a sense of scale that Quake is not a small spell like say, "Fire".^This is backed up by Exdeath using it to sink Ghido's Island in Final Fantasy V; however, Edeath is extremely powerful and this would not be the normal attack.In most games it will simply launch several spires of rock from the ground to harm the enemy, they vary from small spikes to large spires that are probably several tons.

Flare: In the earlier games it was called "NUKE", obviously it isn't not a nuke but I felt it worth mentioning. Flare is considered an "Ultimate" spell, along with Ultima, Meteor, Holy, Burst, Freeze, and Tornado- and will usually pierce magical barriers.The Tactics description reads,"Black magick that converts energy into heat, scorching the battlefield with searing temperatures."—Description"Inscript the dark god into a rotting body! Flare!"—Upon casting in PlayStation version.Flare is the heat and energy of an explosion minus the explosion itself, as such while it is arguably weaker it is far more direct.

Ultima: First introduced in Final Fantasy 2, it is the long-standing ultimate spell in the series; often being so powerful it is used as a plot point.In Final Fantasy II: "Many years ago, Pandaemonium rose into the world, and the Jade Passage opened far to the east of Mysidia. Demons from Pandaemonium attacked the world through the passage, until the mages of Mysidia crafted Ultima as the ultimate spell. Using Ultima, Pandaemonium was sunk back to Hell and the Jade Passage closed."The Jade Passage is a massive underground tunnel that leads to Pandaemonium, Pandaemonium is an 8 story castle that is the capital of Hell and rises up to unleash demons on the world. Ultima is a plot device that sinks the castle and close the passage. Interestingly- it was intended to be the strongest spell but due to a bug would rarely exceed 500 damage.In most of the following games Ultima will not have a story element but instead just be an extremely strong, if not the strongest, spell the characters have access to; with the exception of Final Fantasy VIII where Squall can Draw Apocalypse from Ultimecia in her final form. Apocalypse does twice as much damage as Ultima.In Final Fantasy IX Ultima returns as a plot point and Kuja will use it to destroy the entire world of Terra in a fit of rage. It then goes back to damage, culminating in a boss battle in Final Fantasy XIV,"From the deepest pit of the seven hells to the very pinnacle of the heavens, the world shall tremble! Unleash Ultima!"—Lahabrea, Final Fantasy XIVIt should be noted that Lahabrea was capable of controlling an Ultimate Weapon; who uses Ultima when its health is low enough- should it not be defeated before the spell goes off it is an automatic game over.

Holy: Introduced in Final Fantasy I as 'Fade'; it typically will rival or surpass Flare and Meteor in power. An interesting note, Holy in many incarnations cannot actually miss its target; it will outright ignore evasion of any kind.It continues being a White Magic Flare until Final Fantasy VII, where it gets the spotlight. It is a powerful and ancient spell created to stop Meteor, a spell that summons an undestroyable meteor to destroy the world. Unfortunately, Sephiroth was able to suppress the power of Holy via infecting the lifestream until Meteor was too close for the counterspell to properly affect it, instead doing more harm than good as it struggled to repel the meteor. The Lifestream instead had to push Meteor back directly so Holy could focus enough to properly destroy it.After its one game of being in the spotlight Holy then returns to being just damage, though purely for the sake of completion I will list the Tactics description:"White Magick that attacks the target with sacred light."—Description"Bright light, shine down on bloody impurity! Holy!"—Upon casting in the PlayStation version.

Meteor: A spell that summons meteorites to strike the enemy. Interestingly, it is sometimes regarded as Time Magic instead of Black Magic, the idea behind this being that the 'spell' goes back in time to change the meteor's path so it will be in the right place at the right time. (I cannot for the life of me find where I read this; I'm extremely sure it's somewhere in FF7 but I'd have to replay the entire game to find it).It is almost always regarded as a spell that is too dangerous to cast.In Final Fantasy IV all of Tellah's spells are entirely unable to harm Golbez, until he brings forth Meteor which takes him down. The required energy to use it kills Tellah. Later, in The After Years, The Creator, a powerful alien that created the crystals and could control the moon is only able to be destroyed by this same spell.In Final Fantasy VII it is, of course, the entire point of the game to eventually stop Meteor and kill Sephiroth. A few things to note:1) Meteor is meant to be as instant as all of the other spells, it is held back by a combination of the Planet's energy and Holy to delay its journey.2) The Meteor is implied to be indestructable, as even after blowing a considerable portion of it away the meteor simply reforms and continues on its way. The bomb that only cracked its outer shell was powerful enough that the blast was felt and seen around the entire world.3) Defeating Sephiroth did not stop Meteor, it continued on its path; this could be a result of two different scenarios- either because Sephiroth simply merged with the Lifestream and so didn't "Die" or because the spell goes off whether the user lives or dies.After that it mostly goes back to being just another damage spell- though it can be seen in cutscenes in both Final Fantasy XI's intro and Caius uses some form of it in Final Fantasy XIII-2's intro as well.Caius's version seems the most impressive aside from Sephiroth' as he summons one massive meteorite accompanied by many smaller ones, the small ones destroy fairly large chunks of rock and land. It does however come with a large magic circle that can be broken to cancel the spell.

That mostly sums up the magic, aside from the smaller stuff.

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02 LIMIT BREAKSA staple feature of the series, a Limit Break is a powerful attack that the characters can use; most games explain them differently but they appear to mostly just be a matter of willpower and need.Final Fantasy VIThe feature was first introduced as a 'Desperation Attack'; powerful abilities that would only be used when the character was nearly dead.Final Fantasy VIIThe first game to fully flesh-out this feature, as the characters fight their anger will increase until they unleash "Unimaginable Power" in their attacks, which is why the Fury and Sadness status effects make the gauge fill faster or slower respectively.Later this is changed in Crisis Core to explain that when a person's spirit energy rises to its ultimate limit, for a short while it aligns with and emits from the person's body. In other words, it's just their willpower and energy.Final Fantasy VIIIIn this title they return to only using Limit Breaks when they are injured, although this is mostly a game mechanic as Seifer uses his in the (canon) intro when Squall has not so much as scratched him.Final Fantasy IXInstead of an attack they will instead go into a Trance, "Trance is induced by a surge of emotion." -Steiner. Essentially, being sad or angry enough will bring about Trance, which increases their physical powers and grants them new abilities while they maintain it.Final Fantasy XOverdrive can be built up a number of ways; but is otherwise unremarkable except that it can be increased by doing nearly anything so long as the required skill is learned.Final Fantasy XIIQuickening; unlike in earlier titles, the energy is not exactly released from the character's but rather, by them manipulating "Mist" to achieve the attack.Final Fantasy XIII-Harumph- Instead of Limit Breaks FF13 characters will instead simple have a combination of attack that will use up their entire attack bar, this is somewhat balanced as these characters can actively summon and fight alongside their Eidolons to perform their best attacks.

Limit Breaks- specificsSince it's such an important feature, this section will be for specifics, particularly canon status.Final Fantasy VII:Cloud uses most of his Limit Breaks in Advent Children: they appear to function as they do in the game but with greater power. The only 'odd' Limit Break he uses is "Finishing Touch", a move that vanquishes the opponent without striking them. Tifa, Barret, and Cid also show one or more Limit Breaks in Advent Children. Aerith uses her Great Gospel (from the Lifestream) to heal the Geostigma of any who touch it.Vincent Valentine does not perform an attack, but rather transforms into a new form. As of Dirge of Cerberus he has gained full control of this ability.Zack Fair instead utilizes a SOLDIER technique called Digital Mind Wave. This technique draws upon Zacks' memory and emotions to create the effect he desires- as such, he steals the moves of the people he meets; both enemy and ally.Curiously, Zack does not need to see the move to copy it- he only needs to meet the person.Unfortunately, the rest of the series generally doesn't have the same amount of exposure as the FF7 cast. However, certain characters can be noted:Final Fantasy VIII:Seifer's Limit Break is shown in the intro. Edea's Limit Break is shown in a cutscene.Squall's basic Renzokuken sequence is canon as many bosses will have their own separate animation for Squall using it on them (often involving him leaping on and around them). The additions like 'Blasting Zone' however are likely exaggerated for effect as in every spinoff appearance they are lessened to be more realistic in scale.Final Fantasy IX:The Trance state is canon to the game story, Kuja can even do it. However the special attacks that come with them are subject to debate; although most of just amplified versions of abilities the characters can use when not in Trance.Final Fantasy X, X-2:Yuna at least demonstrates her Overdrive fairly often by summoning. Tidus' ultimate Overdrive is a Blitzball move that he knows and uses in cutscenes.Yuna in X-2 instead uses Dresspheres, see the ABILITIES for more details.Final Fantasy XII:In an interesting twist, the Quickenings are actually a standard part of the story and canon; Bastch can be seen using his in a cutscene to destroy a troublesome airship very early on.Final Fantasy XIII:As the Limit Breaks are just a larger number of hits, they are otherwise unremarkable for the most part. The Summons however are entirely canon, see SUMMONS for more details.

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03 ABILITIESNot to be mistaken for physical stats or Limit Breaks, these are instead unique features that characters have access to. Jobs/Classes: In Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy Tactics the characters can take on new jobs. The abilities they learn can be used even if they do not have that job equipped- this is demonstrated best in Tactics where the main cast will not change their appearance no matter what job you assign them. This is limited to only one equipped class and one secondary class but that seems like game mechanics to me. Every class and job has different abilities that they can use- for example: A Geomancer can use different magics just depending on the environment. A Samurai can use different abilities and attacks depending on what sword they have. A Geomancer with a Samurai secondary would have access to both Geomancy and Bushido skills. For a full list I suggest you head to the Final Fantasy wikia, there are over 20 jobs and each has its own powers.Dresspheres: Separate from jobs, though very smiliar; Yuna, Rikku, and Paine can only use one Dressphere at a time- though they can switch between them freely. They can only equip so many dresspheres in their 'garment grid', but using all of them in a battle will unlock the character's inner power and bring forth their own personal dressphere that will be much stronger than normal.*Many of the following abilities can be attained through jobs/classes/dresspheres.

Junction: In Final Fantasy VIII the characters are regular, though very well trained, humans. However, they can Junction a GF in order to achieve greater powers like magic. The GF will reside in the part of the brain that holds memories, the longer they are equipped, the more memories the user will lose. They can also Junction magic into themselves to increase their power and defenses since they do not have actual equipment.Draw: In Final Fantasy VIII the characters do not produce magic on their own. Instead, they can simply steal it from their enemies via the Draw power; this ability can be used in two ways, to absorb the magic into themselves in order to become stronger- or they can simply steal the enemy magic to use it against them. Should the enemy have some manner of being sealed within them, it is possible for Draw to remove it.

Black/White/Time Magic: A variety of spells, the greatest magic spells were listed in the Magic section but they also have the traditional fireballs, barriers, and healing magic. They're also one of the few video game series that can inflict just as many status effects on the enemy as can be inflicted on them.

Blue Magic/Enemy Skill: Appearing off and on in several Final Fantasy titles, this is the skill to steal the special abilities of monsters and use them in combat. Notable examples are Quistis (who gains the powers by using items of the creatures) Quina (who devours the creatures to steal their powers) and Kimarhi (who simply copies the power after he uses Lancet). A notable example is the dreaded Bad Breath attack, a giant cloud of bull***t that will inflict: poison, blind, silence, sleep, slow, confuse, berserk, stop, slow petrify, petrify, zombie, Vit 0, doom, death.

Mime: Another skill that occurs frequently- this allows the user to copy any move or technique they want so long as they see it used.

Jump: This ability allows the users, typically dragoons, to leap so far up the enemy is unable to attack them before plunging back down to attack said enemy.

Scan: One of the less-used abilities, this allows a character to see an enemy and learn a brief bit about them; including weaknesses and strengths.

Bravery/Faith: In Final Fantasy Tactics the units will have a Bravery and Faith score that they can change. Bravery directly affects how physically adept they are- with enough Bravery a bullet can be caught with bare hands. Faith is the magical counterpart, the more Faith you have the better you will be at using magic. Interestingly, if your Faith is lowered to nearly 00- your character will be able to entirely ignore magical attacks.

Summon: Several characters have the special skill to call upon summons in battle to assist them, this is sometimes only a skill that one character will have rather than the entire party- such is the case with Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy X.

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04 SUMMONSSummons are beings that can be called into combat to aid the party; they go by several names: Summons, Eidolons, Guardian Forces, Espers, Aeons, and Totemas.While the method behind obtaining and using the Summons vary by game- they all have the same function: call them to battle and watch them beat up the enemy.

The question then quickly becomes "Is this gameplay mechanics?" as the effects vary from a small fireball to orbital bombardment.To which, I would say "No". Summons play an important role in many of the games, and the ones where they are central to the plot will usually display how much power they have- and it is often more than the Summon will exhibit in battle. I personally see no reason why this would not be canon for all games.

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05 EQUIPMENTAs a RPG series, many of the games have various weapons, armors, and accessories that can be used. They range from moderately useful to outright game-breaking in some cases.Listing every piece of equipment would be exhausting and take up a lot of space- I just thought I'd mention that there's a lot of it.

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06 PHYSICAL STATSAh, the fun section; here we'll talk about how strong, fast, and durable some of the characters are in the series.

Final Fantasy I - VI:Unfortunately, much of the earlier titles do not give us much to go on for those stats as they are sprite-based games with little tangible evidence. But remember how I said I wouldn't use Dissidia or Kingdom Hearts? This is that exception I was talking about.Regardless of the canon-angle of Dissidia, it cannot be denied that as the only company with any stake in the game- they had nothing to lose by making some characters weaker or stronger than another; the same point applies to Kingdom Hearts to a lesser extent. But let's look at it from another point of view: even as early as Final Fantasy I the heroes had to take on undead, T-Rex, Dragons, and Giants. There is no way a base human with a sword can take on a T-Rex, it cannot happen. To some degree they must be above normal humans in order for them to defeat the enemies they come across. Dissidia reinforces this aspect by pitting the heroes against one another.But that is mostly an opinion piece, so to start:

Final Fantasy VI:While most characters don't get many feats, Terra can fly halfway around the world without an issue. The rest can be argued off and on as game mechanics, that is the only one that really sticks.

Final Fantasy VII:Of course this is the one that gets the most room for this section eh?Cloud and Vincent share the most 'screentime' (to be fair, out of the cast they are the only augmented humans) so we'll start with them.Cloud StrifeIt should be noted that Cloud directly takes on the memories and personality of Zack Fair after watching him die. As such any feat that applies to Zack and be applied to Cloud as well. Cloud is fast enough easily deflect gunfire even from multiple shooters at the same time; Zack at one point casually runs through machinegunfire without a care in the world. When Cloud uses Omnislash his speed increases; using Omnislash version 5 makes him move at such speeds that Sephiroth is entirely unable to keep up with his movements- impressive because Sephiroth speedblitzes Zack with little effort.Cloud's strength is such that he can carry the Buster Sword one handed with no effort. He is capable of carving through solid concrete and steel building chunks without slowing down at all. When using Braver he was able to strike Bahamut SIN straight out of the sky and into the earth. He also manages to trade blows with Sephiroth- who can pick up a several ton Midgar Zolom and impale it on a tree as well as carve through a city-sized cannon with no trouble.He's durable enough to tank being shot in the face at pointblank (literally looked up the barrel), getting thrown through a building, and leaping straight through a Bahamut Flare- also gets stabbed repeatedly by Sephiroth and gets back up, though he's not in good shape after that.Vincent ValentineThe dark and brooding one, and don't you dare stand there and tell me that isn't a physical characteristic!Fast enough to easily dodge gunfire, and apparently can use his cape to simple absorb the bullets if he doesn't feel like dodging. Later becomes fast enough to appear to be teleporting. Strong enough to throw down the physical embodiment of the planet's Lifestream.